


Boostered

by Kinsfire (The_REAL_Kinsfire)



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 21:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10422156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_REAL_Kinsfire/pseuds/Kinsfire
Summary: The ending of the episode "The Greatest Story Never Told" ended on a fairly good note after Batman growled at Booster Gold. What if Booster had taken it a bit more to heart?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I took a few liberties with Booster Gold, in that I'm working off what I remember from reading the comics a long time ago.

Batman leaned forward into Booster Gold’s face and growled “You and I are gonna have a little chat later.” He then spun on his heel as best he could with an injured rib and stalked off.

Booster leaned back against the wall. “Looking forward to it,” he answered the air, his voice stating exactly the opposite emotion. Why don’t they ever treat me the way I should be? I’m a hero, aren’t I?

\+ + +

Batman’s scowl seemed to be well on it’s way to becoming a permanent fixture on his face. “I told Booster to be here half an hour ago,” he growled. He looked up as he heard Fire walking toward him carrying a bag designed to carry a suit, and also what looked to be a DVD case.

“We checked this before it was allowed onboard, Batman,” she said in her Brazilian accent. “It is as safe as the current technology level we use will allow for. I was told by the delivery person that it was to be delivered to you, and that it is from someone named Michael Jon Carter.”

“Booster. What tomfoolery is he up to now?” He accepted the case and the suit bag from her and set them on the table in front of him. Superman and Green Lantern joined him as they saw the delivery finish.

“What that?” GL asked. “And what’s that idiot Booster done this time?”

“Avoided a meeting with me, for one thing, in regards to his shirking his duty during the Mordru scenario. Now he sends me this suit and a DVD? Not a way to put me in a good mood.”

“I think it was a mistake to invite him into the League,” Lantern said. “Some people are not cut out for this. Grandstanding and screwing up all the time? All he seems to do is try for corporate sponsorships. Money is not the reason you should be in the hero business.”

“Well, that’s not a problem, Lantern,” Superman said, looking at the bag. “I suspect the DVD is going to tell us he’s resigned. The Booster Gold suit is in that bag.”

“Good riddance,” Lantern grumbled.

Batman opened the DVD case and headed to the nearest computer. A moment later, Booster Gold, in his civilian identity, appeared on the large screen. “I’ve always wondered why people start notes or messages with ‘If you’re reading this’ or ‘If you’re watching this’ messages. It’s clear that it’s being read or watched. So just get to the message already!” He frowned. “Maybe it’s to delay the message you don’t want to give someone. Like this one. The Justice League will be ecstatic to hear it, at least, but I’m the one who doesn’t want to say it.” He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, and then straightened up. “By the time you actually end up watching this, I will already have returned to the 25th century, and will likely be in prison shortly thereafter, since all the parts of my costume that you have with you are stolen from a museum in my time.”

“I came to this decision after the recent Mordru incident. Batman chewed me out, and I never bothered to explain why I hadn’t been on crowd control, because I knew that it would never be believed. And when I did some soul searching, I realized that I knew why it would never be believed. Because I’m not a hero. I just play one for television, I think the phrase was. Me, saving the world from a world-eating wormhole encased in a man’s body? Puh-leeze! Atom? Sure! Green Lantern? Superman? Batman? Of course they’d be able to do it. But I would be the last choice anyone would ever make to deal with something like that, because you’d all be afraid that I’d Booster this one the way I have so many other things. Yeah, I’ve heard the League slang, and the comments. ‘Want something really screwed up? Get Booster Gold.’ ‘Whoa, you really Boostered that one, Supergirl.’ ‘You had one job. How could you pull such a Booster Gold on it?’ So yeah, I’ve heard them. And I did some soul searching. You know how much we self-absorbed jocks hate to do that sort of thing. Hell, what led me to do it was that I was complaining to myself about how Batman treated me after the Mordru thing. ‘Why don’t people see me as the hero I am?’”

He leaned away from the camera. “Because I’m not one. I’m just some joker who wanted to think that he was the hero who made history. There are stories in the future of how Booster Gold saved Metropolis, and how he saved the world, along with the rest of the Justice League. And it struck me that … well, it struck me that it had to be someone else. Seriously. When I sit down and am painfully honest with myself, I have to admit that I’m not the kind of man who will save the planet, unless I get something out of it. My dad left after he gambled all our money away. He came back into my life and convinced me to throw my college games until I got caught, and screwed my college career. Know what was running around pretending to be a hero? A security guard slash janitor for a museum. That was the only job I could get, and that was basically because, even with technology, people like to see a human face on a job. Skeets was the actual security for the museum on my shift, since he was one of the security bots. So I walked around the place wishing I could make a name for myself. That I could make up for the shame of being a … well, basically for being me. I am a screw-up, and that all comes down to my choices in life. I don’t hero for the right reasons, so I decided that it was finally time to … what’s the phrase back here in this century? ‘Man up’? Yeah. Well, I’m manning up and going back forward to my own time to turn myself in, to serve my time. Booster Gold eventually becomes a hero worthy of the name, so find someone you can trust and give the suit to them. Oh, and can you look up Dr. Tracy Simmons and let her know where I’ve gone? I think she was hoping for more dates, but at least she already knows I’m a loser.”

He reached out, clearly planning to shut off the camera. “At least I’ll know that for one, brief, shining moment, I fought beside the greatest heroes the universe has ever known, even if all I did was provide comic relief. That, and make sure the suit was around for the real Booster Gold. So I’ve got my part in history, and for once, I’ll try to be glad with that. Let me be relegated to the annals of history where I belong - not being remembered at all. If you would, Batman, please destroy this DVD. As far as I could tell, there was never any sign of something like this surviving to the 25th century, but it’s best to destroy it to keep the timeline in one piece. And could you please ask Green Lantern to see if he can get ‘Booster’ out of his vocabulary? I deserved it - and more - but my replacement will be my exact opposite. Gonna need to work on rehabbing the image, too. Easiest will be to say that the original Booster Gold was replaced by a competent one. Call attention to the fact that it’s a new man in the suit. Well, that’s all I’ve got to say. I know that I Boostered things up again by not saying this to you in person, but … well, I’m a coward on top of a failure, Batman. This is M … y’know, to hell with that. This is the old Booster Gold, signing off for the last time.” The image went to snow for a second before the recording stopped completely.

“Well, that went well,” Superman said in a level of sarcasm rarely heard from him. “Quite a job we all do when we can manage to chase someone out of the business.”

“We don’t need screw-ups like him!” Green Lantern yelled.

“How about screw-ups like me?” the Flash asked as he zoomed to a stop next to them. “Don’t think I’ve haven’t noticed the eye rolling at times. And since I heard GL screaming about screw-ups, I assume that Booster Gold has done something to anger him? Again?”

“Yes,’ Superman said. “Booster Gold has quit the Justice League.” The rest of the League was slowly coming closer, and there were some scattered soft cheers at his announcement. “Said he’d ‘Boostered’ things up one time too many.” The Man of Steel’s eyes swept across the room, and they quieted down in shame. “I want you all to think about that. We managed to chase a hero out because he didn’t perform to our expectations. Because he did it for different reasons that the rest of us tend to. We have one less person protecting the world today because we decided that we were better than him, and let him know it. We used his name as an epithet for clumsiness and stupidity. So what if he seemed to be in it for the fame? Perhaps there was something in his life he was making up for. Something that he wanted to forget because of the shame he felt. We repaid his willingness to place his life on the line by insulting him. Belittling him. We all did it. Even with me up here lecturing to all of you, I have to admit that more than once, I treated him poorly. And now we have one less person protecting the planet because of that. Does it really matter the reason that we fight? Isn’t the important thing that we fight? And make no mistake, he fought for the planet, and placed his life on the line, no matter the reason.” He shook his head. “And we’re a poorer group now for it. Not just because we lost a fighter, but because we lost that fighter. We threw him away. I threw him away.” With that, Superman turned and flew away toward the windows that overlooked the Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> This could be the beginning to a longer fic, which would be it's own piece, not a sudden continuation of this one.
> 
> I intend to have this be an AO3 exclusive, as it were. Not dropping it onto what some have taken to calling the Pit of Voles, for some reason. (Mainly because their method of posting leaves something to be desired.)


End file.
